Written by Jay Rowland

A 94th-minute strike from Brian Barton saw Sandbach United win their third game in a row, seeing off Cammell Laird 3-2.

After a hard-fought victory against league leaders Wythenshawe Amateurs on Saturday, Ramblers manager Declan Swan elected to make changes to his side for the quick turnaround to Tuesday's match, dropping Kieran O'Connell and Kieran Alley to the bench and resting in-form midfielder Robbie Hatton completely. George West, Liam Fitzpatrick and Jordan Stafford all started in their place as Sandbach looked to beat their visitors from Birkenhead.

The affair started in a rather scrappy fashion, with neither side showing much quality on the ball in the opening stages to really trouble the goalkeepers.

The best move of the opening 20 minutes saw Fitzpatrick and Harry Cain work well together on the left flank and force Cammell Laird into a desperate block behind for a corner, before a cross could reach the waiting Joshua Klein-Davies.

Cain opened the scoring with the first moment of real quality with a wonderful curling strike from outside the box in the 23rd minute. After receiving a forward pass from West, he shifted the ball onto his right foot and struck a beautiful shot over the dive of Lairds goalkeeper Nathan Davidson and into the top right corner.

Lairds were reeling from the goal which arguably neither side had deserved given the balance of play prior, and Sandbach made them pay through Klein-Davies five minutes later.

The striker received the ball with his back to goal in the box but was afforded far too much time and space to turn and shoot.

The striker punished the away side with a clinical low shot off the far post and in to put Sandbach two goals ahead.

Moments later, Cammell Laird had Davidson to thank for keeping out a great effort from West with a wonderful reaction save down to his right.

Sandbach had further chances to extend their lead through West and Cain before the half-time whistle, but Davidson pulled off a string of saves to ensure his side went in only two goals down at the break.

Davidson was called into action by West only four minutes after the restart, as the Sandbach forward beat his man far too easily before seeing a well-struck left-footed effort saved well by the Lairds goalkeeper.

West then turned provider as he sent a low ball across the face of goal that was expertly cleared before it could reach Cain. Stanley Tatters then passed up a glorious shooting chance to attempt a pass to Cain that was picked off by the away defence.

Lairds had their backs-to-the-wall for most of the second half, and their job was made even harder when substitute Kieron Frost was shown a straight red card for violent conduct on Sandbach goalkeeper Eric Merner. Shortly after, the visitors were temporarily down to 9 men as Jake Doran was sin binned for dissent.

However, it was Lairds who pulled a goal back with ten minutes still to play, as an effort from a corner struck the crossbar and fell to Jay Harvey, who slotted in.

Sandbach then went down to 10 men after a high-speed challenge from Fitzpatrick directly in front of the Lairds dugout caused mayhem and gave the referee little choice but to dismiss the full-back.

Four minutes later, the visitors were level through substitute Joel Ogiugo, as he dispatched a side-footed volley past Merner at his near post.

Swan knew his side had the chances to have put the game out of sight for the Ramblers and introduced Alley and Barton in the hopes of finding a winner.

It was those two substitutes that linked up for the winning goal deep into additional time, as Alley floated an outstanding cross towards the back post for Barton to meet it with a volley into the far corner, sending the Sandbach crowd into delirium.

Before the restart, repeated dissent by Harvey saw the Lairds receive their second sin bin of the match, but it mattered little as the referee blew the full-time whistle moments after to see Sandbach secure their second home win in three days.

Speaking after the match, Swan said: "We didn't make it easy for ourselves. We should make it four, five, maybe six before they had any chances to get back into it.

"It felt like we've taken two steps forward and one step back as everything we've worked on in training was thrown out the window. But we kept going until the end and well, Brian's back isn't he!

"That being said, I'm disappointed with the second half display and discipline and if we want to get to where we want to be, that's what we have to improve."

The Ramblers stay in 6th place with their 3-2 victory on Tuesday night but are now level with 4th and 5th-placed Brocton and Stockport Georgians respectively, albeit with an inferior goal difference.

Sandbach now have a week until their next fixture, as they travel to Abbey Hulton on Tuesday 13th December hoping for their fourth straight league victory.